On October 14th I lead a trip for the Blue Ridge Young Birders Club to the Rockfish Valley Trail, a local birding hotspot in Nelson County. I had high hopes for the trip, as the Rockfish Valley Trail tends to be a very productive place for finding uncommon and rare migrants in the fall, with Philadelphia vireo and Lincoln's sparrows often present. Only a few weeks previously I'd had one of the best mornings of birding in my life there, finding Philadelphia vireo and blue-winged, Connecticut and mourning warblers. Around this time of year last year, my brother and I had two marsh wrens. Six young birders attended the trip.

We walked under Route 151, doing our best to avoid getting our feet wet in the water overflowing from the South Fork of the Rockfish River. The day was cool and cloudy but not unpleasantly so. We encountered a large flock of song sparrows in a dense tangle of pokeweed and began scanning them for Lincoln's. We didn't find any Lincoln's in that flock but saw a few swamp sparrows. As we were walking along a mowed path through a dense, brushy field, a tiny, bright yellow bird dropped out of a tree and into the grass. Curious about what this could be so late in the year, we went to investigate. The bird popped up onto a low branch of a black walnut tree for a few seconds, and I saw it was a Wilson's warbler.

We continued around the loop towards the back of the field, where we encountered more sparrows. I put my binoculars up to one and saw that it had a yellowish malar, gray supercilium and a yellowish breast covered in super fine, dark streaks --- a Lincoln's sparrow. I think everyone got on the bird, although it soon hopped back down into the brush.

A flock of purple finches flew over and landed in the branches of a leafless oak. We soon began hearing more purple finch calls, and several other flocks joined the first. By the end of the day we counted 34 in small flyover and foraging flocks. It was still early in the year for purple finches and seeing them in these numbers was encouraging for a good winter for them in our area.

As we rounded the bend in the path a flock of birds flew up into a tree. One appeared to be a Catharus thrush, which my brother got on and said looked like a gray-cheeked. We slowly crept to the other side of the tree so as not to scare the thrush again and saw that it was indeed a gray-cheeked thrush. We re-found the Wilson's warbler and a late Eastern wood-pewee nearby.

Once we got back to the top of the loop where we first saw the Wilson's warbler, we paused for a bit to listen. I heard a yellowthroat chipping in a large patch of common mugwort, so I went to investigate. I found the yellowthroat and a couple of palm warblers, and I was just about to return to the group when Baxter called that he thought he had a Connecticut warbler. The group assembled behind him and we slowly advanced towards the bird, which was entirely obscured by the dense mugwort. I got a brief glimpse of the bird through the vegetation and saw a large warbler with a pale gray hood and a thin eye ring. Suddenly the bird lifted off and flew to the end of the mugwort patch, followed a second later by a similar looking bird. There were two of them! Chaos ensued as everyone tried to see the birds while we debated their ID's. Eventually we cornered the two birds in a corner of the mugwort patch, and everyone got a decent look. Their eye rings, although fairly extensive, were not complete, making them mourning warblers, not Connecticuts. Finding two of them was still extremely exciting, and it was a Nelson County high count. We photographed a beautiful blue-headed vireo in a willow along the river on our way back towards the cars.

The next location for the trip was State Route 610, a quiet mountain road that can sometimes have good migrants. When we arrived the area was totally quiet. We had to walk down the road for five minutes before we even heard a bird, which was a pileated woodpecker. I did not give up hope, as I'd birded up here many times before when it first appeared very slow but then incredible bird activity occurred in explosive bursts. Sure enough, a few minutes later the forest suddenly rang with a cacophony of warbler chips, and birds could be seen moving in every tree. The vast majority of the warblers were blackpoll, but we also found several other species including Tennessee, Cape May, bay-breasted, pine and black-throated green. Kinglets were also present in high numbers --- we had fifteen golden-crowned and five ruby-crowned on a small stretch of road. I spotted a red-eyed vireo, which was beginning to get late, as well as another blue-headed vireo.

​Rockfish Valley Trail and State Route 610 did not let us down!

by Ezra Staengl

]]>Mon, 05 Nov 2018 00:21:10 GMThttp://www.blueridgeyoungbirders.org/brybc-blog/highland-retreat-saw-whet-owl-bandingThe Blue Ridge Young Birders Club had a field trip to the Highland Retreat banding station in Broadway, Rockingham. This banding station focuses on Northern Saw-whet Owl, a small owl that migrates through Virginia in the winter. Traps are set up to catch a bird, and if these birds were caught then we would be able to see them being banded. We hoped many would be caught, since last year no owls were caught that night. We waited inside the building while someone went to check the traps. They came back a few minutes later with a tiny owl in a small bag. They put the owl into a small container and weighed it. The bird was big enough that we could tell it was a female. They took the owl out of the bag and we got to see it get banded.The owls were pretty cooperative, and let the banders put the bands on their legs. This way, if they were caught again, they could tell it was the same owl. The banders had to tell the age of the owl for data, so they turned on an ultraviolet light and could tell that the bird was two years old from looking at the wings. We photographed the owls some, and then the banders took the owl back outside. They would soon be released back into the wild.After a little while, someone went to check the nets and came back with another Saw-whet Owl. We could not tell the gender of this bird, but could tell it was a one year old bird. We all photographed the owls and even got to hold them. After we held them, we went outside and saw the release of both owls. We took off the cover, and the owl sat on the table for a couple minutes before flying off. The second owl we had caught stayed on the table for a long time. We're not sure how long it stayed, because it was still on the table even when we left. We left the Highland Retreat banding station satisfied with the two owls we got to see. It was fun to see how the owls were banded. It was a successful trip to see Northern Saw-whet Owls!

by Ira Lianez

]]>Sun, 04 Nov 2018 18:42:51 GMThttp://www.blueridgeyoungbirders.org/brybc-blog/november-club-meeting​6 young birders came for the November meeting. We had asked experienced local birder Pete Myers to come and talk about photography. He taught us some tips for using cameras and showed us some of his amazing photographs. He showed us that we don't have to travel far to get good pictures of birds; most of his photos were taken in his backyard! He also showed us how he uses his camera. Thank you to Pete Myers for coming to meeting! We also planned some winter field trips, and after the meeting so of the birders stayed to photograph the many Purple Finches that were coming to the feeders at Ivy Creek.

On September 30, Ezra Staengl led a field trip to the Shenandoah Valley in search of rare shorebirds that had been continuing in Rockingham and Augusta counties. The trip started at Wayne Avenue in Stuarts Draft, where we successfully spotted 8 White-rumped Sandpipers. The next stop was Quillen's Pond, but the water was too high for shorebirds. The last spot in Augusta county was the Old Fishersville Quarry. We scanned for terns, but didn't find any. We moved onto Rockingham county. We saw 2 Solitary g at Leonard's Pond. We also checked Artillery Road Ponds, a very underbirded spot that may have potential for birding in winter. At Lake Shenandoah we found a Great Egret, 2 more Solitary Sandpipers, and a Lesser Yellowlegs. We were surprised by two Double-crested Cormorants that flew over the lake. In Elkton, we found a continuing American Golden-Plover at a sod farm. We also saw a Northern Shoveler and a Blue-winged Teal. We checked a couple more spots in Rockingham, before heading back to the Afton Inn. There we found Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Green Warbler, Prairie Warbler and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

We stood in front of the parking area of Staunton View, scanning the mudflats for Plovers and Sandpipers. We had three scopes, so we could view different parts of the river. A clumsy domestic Muscovy Duck walked around beyond the parking area. A White-eyed Vireo sang. Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets were wading in the rivers. We spotted some white terns we were at first unable to ID, but later identified them as Common Terns. Baxter spotted twelve Black Terns flying around the mudflats. A Ring-billed Gull was seen on the mudflat, along with some Semipalmated Sandpipers. I saw my first Cow Killer wasp in the dirt. The name is a disclaimer, these can’t really kill cows with their stings. We moved on to another nearby viewing spot, where we saw a Least Sandpiper and a cute little Semipalmated Plover. A surprise Dickcissel flew over. We detected it at first by it’s flight call, and Baxter saw it fly down into the forest across for the parking area. We walked to another viewing point, through the forest, seeing a Yellow Warbler. There was not much at this spot, so we decided to move on to another spot. An American White Pelican had been seen here a few days earlier, so we were sad to see it had left. On our way back to the car we met two local birders in the area, Paul Glass and Adam D’Onofrio. We didn’t have internet, so we couldn’t see what spots were nearby. We piled into the two cars and continued down the road until we got internet connection. We had the windows rolled down so we could hear birdsongs, and Tucker heard a Brown-headed Nuthatch. We stopped for a few minutes and heard a Pine Warbler, and a couple of Eastern Wood-Pewees. We had a bit of internet, and were trying to decide where we could go. We could head back in the direction of home and bird on the way, or we could stop at James River State Park for a while, which is also on the way home. We decided to go to James River, and were driving there when the second car we had taken stopped on the side of the road. Robert rolled down the window to talk to us. Paul Glass had just seen the American White Pelican at Staunton View. The Pelican is a rarity inland, so it was worth heading back for. When we arrived there, Paul Glass showed us where the pelican was and we all got to see it through the scopes. We left eventually, satisfied with the pelican, and ended up going to two different gas stations and Dairy Queen. From DQ we headed to Buckingham county, a county I’d never birded in. We birded James River State Park and saw Eastern Bluebirds, Common Yellowthroats, Indigo Buntings, a Wood Duck, an Eastern Phoebe and more. Tucker even saw a Least Flycatcher, which is rare for the location. After that, we drove back to Albemarle and then left for home. We were tired from the day’s trip, but were also satisfied with the day’s birds.

11 young birders showed up for the Hog Island Wildlife Management Area field trip. We had planned to search for shorebirds but the water was high. We saw Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons in the water. We got out of our cars and walked down the road. We saw Pine Warblers, Eastern Kingbirds, Caspian Terns, an Osprey, a Blue Grosbeak and even a Veery. We went to the top of the observation tower, where a Least Bittern had been seen a few days before. We missed the bittern, but saw a juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron. We walked down a trail to several ponds where we saw Snowy Egrets, Tricolored Herons, tons of Caspian Terns and Great Egrets. We even saw Least and Spotted Sandpipers on a mudflat.

Least Sandpiper

After heading back to the main road, we decided to head to Piney Grove Preserve, the only place in the state to see Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. On our way, we saw two Mississippi Kites. We missed the woodpeckers, but saw an early Red-breasted Nuthatch. This was the earliest fall record in the costal plains region! We were excited about this bird because the sighting could mean it's an irruptive year for the species, and if that were true we would see a lot more of these later in the year.

Photo by Baxter Beamer

Our last stop was Dutch Gap, another spot where we could see a Least Bittern. However, when we scanned the marsh, we didn't see much. We walked to Henricus Park, and scanned the James River. We saw Laughing Gulls, Killdeer and a Great Egret. We walked down a path near the boat ramp and did a better scanning, and noticed two Spotted Sandpipers. We were looking at our sandpiper pictures, when Paul noticed a second species in one of his pictures. This one was darker than the Spotted, so Ezra ran to the car to get the scope, and we started scanning. We ID'ed it as Semipalmated/Western Sandpiper. Semipalmated is pretty common, but Western is only on the coast in winter, and is rare in migration. They both look very similiar, and we couldn't see the distinguishing features from all the way across the river. We eventually had to leave, and were never able to confirm the species. When we got back to Pantops, we had dinner at a nearby Chipotle restaurant. Although this trip wasn't terribly great for shorebirds, we still had a fun day of birding and were able to get some cool species, including a few shorebirds.

For this month's meeting, we had an election of new club officers. 12 young birders attended the election, and officers for Treasurer, Girl's Membership Coordinator, Field Trip Coordinator, Secretary and Club Journalist were elected. Congratulations to Ander Buckley, the Treasurer, Tucker Beamer, the Secretary, Ezra Staengl, the field trip coordinator, Charlotte Clements, the girls' membership coordinator, and Ira Lianez, the Club Journalist for becoming new officers. We also played 'Name That Bird', where teams would compete against each other to name the most birds. One teammate would randomly pick a piece of paper from a bag with a type of bird on it and would have to describe the species to the other teammates, who would have to guess the name of the bird. Some birds were easy ones we were very familiar with (such as Indigo Bunting), while others weren't (such as Red-crested Cardinal). The winning team was able to guess 22 bird species from the descriptions. The club discussed upcoming field trips for October, November and December. To finish the meeting, we had the club's traditional 10 minute birding challenge to see which team could observe the most species.

​Nine young birders attended the July club meeting today. We planned lots of field trips for this fall, so be sure to look for an email soon with important details so we can finalize the trips. Mary Mapel led a bird trivia game, in which we split into three teams and competed to identify models of bird skulls, feathers, feet and eggs. Trying to identify birds from parts that we don’t usually pay much attention to was both fun challenging, and I think we all gained a greater appreciation of the importance of these lesser known field marks. After the meeting, we held the traditional ten-minute challenge; two teams competed to find the most bird species in ten minutes at Ivy Creek Natural Area.

We parked at Dutch Gap Conservation Area across the street from an observation platform overlooking the marsh. Northern Shovelers, Ring-necked Ducks, Gadwall, Wood Ducks, American Wigeons, and American Coots were abundant. A couple Blue-winged Teals were a very nice bird for the winter time. I found a furtive Brown Thrasher in some nearby brush, but the bird vanished shortly after the others arrived to see it.

Ducks constantly flew in and out of the dense, brush-covered wetlands. We found some Northern Pintails, American Black Ducks, Mallard X American Black Ducks, and a Hooded Merganser. We reached the end of the wetlands and walked out onto a newly built boardwalk through cattails. I imagined how much easier it would be to see Least Bitterns here now; I still needed them for my life list.

After walking the boardwalk, we continued past Henricus Park and arrived at the overlook of the James River. It was quiet, aside from a few distant Ring-billed Gulls and Double-crested Cormorants. After waiting for a few minutes, we heard the sounds of chaotic honking in the distance: geese. We made out long, faint lines over the tree-line across the river. The several thousand Canada Geese approached, slowly becoming louder and louder. We scanned for rarities, finding two Snow Geese mixed in: a very nice bird for the area. Not everyone saw the bird, but the flock fortunately reappeared a few minutes later, and everyone got their eyes on it the second time.

We walked down to the retention pond, finding some Bufflehead and Canvasback.

Our next stop was City Point in Hopewell, where we were hoping to see Orange-crowned Warblers. We arrived and found essentially nothing other than some Bald Eagles.

​We set off for our final planned birding location of the day: the Gullmart. As we approached the renown gull Mecca, I noticed two large corvids with nicely-wedged tails: ravens. They were a nice rarity for the location. I had broken my previous record for easternmost raven in Virginia only hours after setting it.

We arrived at the Colonial Heights Ponds and began to scan. We worked our way around the pond to get a better vantage point of the thousands of Ring-billed Gulls and hundreds of Herring Gulls, finding a good number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the process. As we were completing the scan, a stunning Iceland Gull was spotted on the hillside overlooking the pond. A lifer for several, we enjoyed the white-winged beauty before the flock flushed.

We stood at the intersection of Briery Branch Road and 85, near the summit of Reddish Knob, watching and listening to the red crossbills feeding all around us. Crossbill flocks roved about the mountaintop, chattering and singing constantly. Some birds dangled from the cones of table mountain and pitch pines, using their long, sturdy, crossed bills to pry the seeds out from deep within the cones. Other crossbill flocks gathered in the dirt road not more than five feet in front of us, squabbling and moving constantly as they ingested little bits of gravel to aid in their digestion.

Red crossbills are fairly rare throughout most of Virginia --- they are most common during irruption years, when large numbers come north during the winter --- but they can usually be found in the tall mountains along the VA/WV border in Rockingham County. The crossbills are present all year round, including the breeding season, and have raised young successfully in the Reddish Knob Area before.

The red crossbill is an extremely complex species. Many subspecific taxa, commonly referred to as crossbill "types" have been named, and it is possible that some of them will be elevated to species status in the future. Indeed, just this past year the Cassia crossbill --- endemic to one county in southern Idaho --- was split out from the red crossbill. One of the most variable features of crossbill types is bill size, as it seems different types have evolved different bills to allow them to specialize on different conifer species. The types also differ in body size and call.

​ The red crossbills at Briery Branch Gap had previously been recorded and identified as Appalachian red crossbill (type 1), but I wanted to make sure our birds were as well, so I took some recordings. When I got home, I sent my red crossbill recordings to Matt Young, a scientist who's been studying them. He told me that I had recorded both type 1 and type 2, the ponderosa pine crossbill, which had not been documented in Virginia recently.

Seven young birders had met for the Blue Ridge Young Birders Club field trip to Briery Branch Gap early in the morning at the Rockfish Gap Hawk-watch. The trip to Briery Branch was uneventful until we got to Airport Road, just south of the town of Bridgewater, in Rockingham County. Suddenly, three massive, lightly-colored birds crossed the road in front of us. I only got to see them for a few seconds before they were obscured by the trees, but I had enough time to make out their huge, black-tipped wings, light bodies, tiny tails, and massive bills. They were American white pelicans, a 2nd county record.

We encountered the flocks of red crossbills as soon as we got to the pull off for Briery Branch Gap. It was by far the most I've ever seen at once, and the best views. After the crossbill show, we walked up forest road 85 in search of other mountain birds. Pines, hemlocks and oaks grew over a dense layer of mountain fetterbush next to the trail. Blue-headed vireos, dark-eyed juncos and black-capped chickadees sang from the branches. We walked into a field surrounded by red spruce and eastern hemlock. A few more red crossbills flew over our head, accompanied by American goldfinches and pine siskins. Black-and-white warblers sang their whispery, greasy wheel song. Someone flushed an American woodcock, which flew twenty feet and then landed deep in a fetterbush colony. We decided we should turn around so we'd have time for a few stops in the valley on our way home.

For some reason, the field at the end of Lumber Mill Road in Dayton is one of the most reliable places in the valley for the introduced Eurasian collared dove. Why the doves prefer this particular manure-covered field to a million exactly like it all over Rockingham County is beyond me. We found three Eurasian collared doves perched on the powerlines next to the road.

Our final stop of the day was Oakwood Pond, where we found two pectoral sandpipers. We headed home, happy with our morning's birding.